Have you always wanted to have a morning meeting in your classroom but just been unsure where to even begin? I’ve been there! When I first began teaching, we were required to have a morning meeting time, but I had no idea what to do!
Now morning meeting is an essential part of our daily schedule. No matter how crazy our day is, we never skip it! It gives students a sense of stability and helps build classroom community.
But no worries – I have your entire morning or class meeting all planned out for you.
These morning meeting activities have been classroom tested and approved!
Morning Meeting Greetings
Greetings are an easy and fun way to break the ice and allow students to get some of their morning sillies out.
Morning meeting greetings can be as simple or as complex as you want them to be! There are 30 different greetings in my morning meeting slides so we can always change it up.
Some of my favorite morning meeting greetings are:
Stinky Skunk – Students hook arms with their partner and grab their own nose like they just smelled a stinky skunk! Then they say hello.
Hello, Neighbor – Partner up and dance to the song Hello, Neighbor by Dr. Jean!
Mind Waves – Students concentrate hard on their partner and use their “mind waves” to send their greeting through the air without speaking. Totally silly but they get so into it!
Deep Breathing Exercise for Kids
After the greeting, you will want your students to be calm, cool, and collected. We use these deep breathing exercises during morning meeting, but also whenever we transition to the carpet or we’re just a little too excited.
At the beginning of the year, I teach students one deep breathing exercise a week and we do that exercise all week long. The breathing exercises in my morning meeting slides match the breathing choices in my Calm Down Corner to help students calm independently.
As you breathe, take a deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth. Repeat at least 3 times.
Rainbow Breathing is one of our favorites! As you breathe in, you will slowly lift your arms at your sides until they make an arch over your head. As you breathe out, you will slowly lower your arms back down.
Share Time During Morning Meeting
During your share time, you can do a whole class share or partner share. For me, this depends on how big my class is.
For a whole class share, you can do a community circle. Everyone sits in a circle and passes a talking piece around. Whoever has the talking piece gets to share.
For a partner share, you can teach students to do a turn and talk. I saw “1-2-3 share” and then they turn to their partner. To get their attention again, I say “3-2-1” and their eyes are back on me.
Your share time prompts can be silly, simple, or serious. This is a great time to discuss social emotional topics as well!
Some morning meeting sharing time prompts you can use:
What are you hoping to do this weekend?
Do you like ice cream or tacos better?
If you could fly, where would you go?
What can you do when you feel {emotion}?
Tempted to skip the share time? Don’t! Having a share time will help build classroom community, speaking and listening skills, and give your students who just need to talk an outlet.
Community Building Activities
This is a portion of my morning meeting that I consider optional. We don’t always do a community building activity.
These activities are usually a Fun Friday addition for us, but we also add them in when I think my class can benefit from some additional community building time.
Again, these morning meeting activities can be as simple or complex as you want.
We love a good round of charades, but sometimes our activity is a Cosmic Yoga or extra Koo Koo Kangaroo dance-a-long.
Morning Message
For kindergarten, I like to keep our morning message the same every day. This helps my students build fluency.
Having a daily morning message establishes a routine with your students which helps them feel safe and in control of their day.
If you include what specials you have and any special events happening, you can also avoid answering the same 1,001 questions throughout the day!
Classroom Goal Setting
If you have been following along for a while, you might know that we set monthly goals as a class. Every day, we review the goal and the strategies for meeting that goal. We also evaluate how we are doing so far.
Don’t think your class can handle monthly goals? You can also try setting daily class goals!
With daily goals, students don’t have to wait for success. This is a great choice for a class that needs a little more motivation.
Ready To Start Morning Meeting in Your Classroom?
Morning meeting is an easy way to establish a daily routine and give students a sense of security and control. It will also help with community building and social emotional skills.
Don’t want to plan all the parts? I’ve already done it for you!
These Morning Meeting Slides have every single part of your morning meeting planned and ready to go. Just select the ones you want for the day and begin your day on the right foot!
Have you tried morning meeting with your class? Tell us about it down below!
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